Video Sunday: My Spell Check Does Not Recognize the Word "Tushy"

I do all right on the children’s literary blogging front, but long before I got into this biz my mom was big on the knitting blogs. On Ravelry and all that jazz she’s known as Rams. These two worlds do not usually intersect (unless there’s a Captain Underpants knitting pattern to share) but I think today’s video is the exception to the rule. How was Coraline’s sweater made for the stop animated movie? With teeny tiny knitting needles, of course. Thanks to 100 Scope Notes for the link!

When animator Tom Warburton decided to get into the old picture book biz, I suppose the inevitable outcome was a book trailer for his picture book 1000 Times No. The crazy thing? Mr. Warburton is an expert at the short, sweet, and funny. So this isn’t your usually iMovie book trailer affair. It is crazy good, in fact. He says this about it on his site:

When I first got a real live copy of my book I ran around Curious Pictures showing ANYBODY and EVERYBODY! And hours later when I got waaaaaay across the studio to Mary Knox, Supreme Commander of Commercials, she gave it a cursory glance before handing it back to me and grunting something like, "Great- now go animate it."

At first, I was like, "WHAT?! Who’s got time to do THAT?!"

But the more I thought about it, the more I saw the wisdom in the Mighty Knox’s words.

I could make a really cool animated promo for 1000 Times No and send it out to all the bookstores, kid-lit blogs, schools, etc, etc.

All I needed were a couple suckers… I mean… sooper talented friends to help me make it! And boy did I find them, starting with Curious Pictures After Effects Master Director Dave Rasura who volunteered to animate it. Next I bribed my 5 year old son Parker with a promise of Legos, begged some old KND pals like actress Jennifer Hale and sound chef Lou Esposito, and before I knew it, we were rolling. And less than a month later…

I give to you the teaser for 1000 Times No!

Unfortunately I can’t embed it here. You’ll just have to go to his site to watch it. No biggee. It’s pretty awesome and worth it to boot. His son is some kind of voiceover genius, I swear.

Not that you need a big budget for a clever promotional video. As Amy Krouse Rosenthal proves again and again and again that all you really need is some smart ideas and a catchy soundtrack.

Thanks to Cathleen Brady for the link.

Ever since I read American Born Chinese I’ve been looking for anything that might contain that remarkable Gene Yang touch. This humorous video from the folks at First Second sort of fulfills that need. Kinda sorta.

Many thanks to Gina Gagliano for the link.

On May 16th my library will be playing host to the greatest meeting of butt-related children’s books of all time. I kid you not. We getting in Tracy Dockray, the illustrator of The Tushy Book, Auyn Halliday who wrote Always Lots of Heinies at the Zoo (illustrated by Dan Santat), and Erica Perl, author of none other than Chicken Butt (illustrated by Henry Cole). I tried to get Michael Ian Black who wrote Chicken Cheeks, but the fellow (not too surprisingly) will be unavailable. HOWEVER! I’m still trying for his illustrator Kevin Hawkes. Until I write up a formal announcement on my blog (expect puns puns puns) here’s a book trailer for the third of this inestimable trio:

Thanks to Erica Perl for the link.

I end today with a strange little link, but one that I think is worth watching. Artist Kacie Kinzer set up a social experiment to create a little robot that could only go forward, carrying a sign asking pedestrians to help it in its journey. The result is a website called Tweenbots, the name of the little smiling creatures. The surprise was how frequently people helped the little things. As Kinzer puts it, "The journey the Tweenbots take each time they are released in the city becomes a story of people’s willingness to engage with a creature that mirrors human characteristics of vulnerability, of being lost, and of having intention without the means of achieving its goal alone." I recommend going to the website to read Kinzer’s words about the project at length. Here I will place her video, which shows the little guy moving and the curious people who feel compelled to help it.

Elizabeth Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.

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About A Fuse #8 Production

Features everything from librarian previews of upcoming children's books to news, reviews, and videos. If it has something to do with children's literature, it will rate a mention here.

Betsy Bird is the Youth Materials Specialist of New York Public Library. She's reviewed for The New York Times and Kirkus, writes articles for Horn Book and SLJ, and wrote the picture book Giant Dance Party. You can contact her at Fusenumber8@gmail.com or follow her on . . .